Biking in Boston

[as02143]

Maybe this is just blind optimism, but the information coming directly from the city really did seem to support the idea that flexposts would be replaced with nicer, permanent barriers. Nothing has been explicit (or even implicit IMO) about removing any bike lanes. The aesthetics of old flexposts does genuinely seem to be a key issue here, and I can't say I disagree. Even when they're not hit by cars, they do become discolored and grimy quite quickly. The North Beacon St bike lanes have been in for less than 6 months and the flexposts are in pretty rough shape. Getting these replaced by concrete barriers and/or planters would look a whole lot better.

Regardless of the end result here, it is disappointing that the flexposts are being removed before a replacement is being installed (or even any plan communicated). Leaving the lanes unprotected, even if only for a few days or weeks, puts cyclists at risk. I fully expected BTD and this administration to do better, and hope they do in the future.

For more context, here's the initial Streetsblog article on the Boylston Street bus lane removal, which also included info on bus/bike lane changes (emphasis mine):

That is a very Pollyanna view on this all.

 

[themissinglink]

City removes bike lane protective barriers - The Boston Globe

Where flexible-post bollards once lined green bikeways, there are now empty holes.

www.bostonglobe.com

In a statement sent to the Globe on Friday afternoon, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s press office said the flexposts on Arlington Street were “removed for routine maintenance after sustaining heavy damage during winter storms in February,” but did not elaborate on how long maintenance would take or when they could be back up.
Meanwhile, according to the city, the Mass. Ave. flexposts “were removed in response to feedback from community members.”

This is arguably the most infuriating part of this whole fiasco:

Others also said they were frustrated that it takes years of community input to get bike infrastructure installed, yet the city gave residents no notice before abruptly removing the protections.

 

[FK4]

Definitely concerning and hard to not assume this is some nefarious shit given the timing.

 

[as02143]

Yeah, while the national attention on Mayor Wu is rah-rah "defeat the FaScIsTs!", it's wild that she's made it that much more feasible for drivers to kill cyclists. Makes me think she values drivers lives more than those who bike.

 

[HenryAlan]

Yeah, while the national attention on Mayor Wu is rah-rah "defeat the FaScIsTs!", it's wild that she's made it that much more feasible for drivers to kill cyclists. Makes me think she values drivers lives more than those who bike.

We don't know if that is what happened. The Arlington St removal seems to have a reasonable explanation. We still need to hear what is going on with Mass Ave. I've heard from the Boston Cyclist Union that they are preparing possible responses but are first giving the city a chance to answer the question. The communication process is definitely problematic, but there might nevertheless be a helpful explanation.

 

[BronsonShore]

Yeah, while the national attention on Mayor Wu is rah-rah "defeat the FaScIsTs!", it's wild that she's made it that much more feasible for drivers to kill cyclists. Makes me think she values drivers lives more than those who bike.

If this is what you think, then, sorry, you're not really paying attention. Wu regularly bikes herself has already been the most bike-friendly mayor in Boston's history. It's unclear what exactly is going on with this lane, and she may in fact be back-peddling a bit in response to Kraft's attacks. But to state that she "values drivers lives more than those who bike" is a laughably bad misreading of her entire time in office.

 

[KCasiglio]

Wu regularly bikes herself

The biggest thing for me is "bikes her toddler children in a cargo bike" - this to me is incredibly important in normalizing biking as a primary urban mode to "normies" and I find has been an incredibly effective retort to other parents of young children I talk to who (very understandably) feel it's unsafe.

 

[Badusername]

The biggest thing for me is "bikes her toddler children in a cargo bike" - this to me is incredibly important in normalizing biking as a primary urban mode to "normies" and I find has been an incredibly effective retort to other parents of young children I talk to who (very understandably) feel it's unsafe.

Which is why the recent removals are problematic even if temporary. A parent biking their child should not randomly find their previously protected route is now unprotected with no warning and no detour. If the safety of routes is not predictable and has gaps, then cautious cyclists will simply not use the infrastructure and go back to driving.

 

[HenryAlan]

The city has released its report on bike lane installs on South Huntington, Berkeley St, Green St, Seaverns St, Poplar St, Boylston St (JP), and Eliot St. I haven't read it all the way through yet, but the project corridors saw a 44% overall increase in bike traffic, significantly improved speed limit adherence, and no significant change in car volume. I interpret that to mean throughput was stable, despite the many complaints in the Globe about traffic being created by bike lanes.

https://www.boston.gov/sites/default/files/file/2025/03/2024-1024%20Better%20Bike%20Lanes%20Year%20One%20Evaluation%20%28web%20version%29.pdf

If the link does't work, just search for "better bike lanes year one" to find it in Google.

 

[BronsonShore]

Which is why the recent removals are problematic even if temporary. A parent biking their child should not randomly find their previously protected route is now unprotected with no warning and no detour. If the safety of routes is not predictable and has gaps, then cautious cyclists will simply not use the infrastructure and go back to driving.

As someone who regularly bikes around the city, I completely agree with you, and I think it's absolutely fair and right for bike advocates to take Wu to task on this. But I've also been paying attention for more than a week, so I know that, despite this disappointing removal, Michelle Wu has been a godsend for Boston cyclists. Implying that she's anti-cyclist because of this lane removal, as @as02143 does above, is akin to a Red Sox fan circa 2005 saying that David Ortiz sucks because he went 0-4 with two strikeouts in a regular season game against the White Sox.

 

[kingofsheeba]

If this is what you think, then, sorry, you're not really paying attention. Wu regularly bikes herself has already been the most bike-friendly mayor in Boston's history. It's unclear what exactly is going on with this lane, and she may in fact be back-peddling a bit in response to Kraft's attacks. But to state that she "values drivers lives more than those who bike" is a laughably bad misreading of her entire time in office.

This. I’ve been critical of Wu in the past but she has proven me wrong thus far. She has done a decent job and I’m not sure we need the junior Kraft to torpedo the recent progress made in Boston.

Sidebar: I say on my profile that I live on Charlestown but I actually don't. It’s to keep the creeps away and I don’t want people knowing where I actually live but it’s north of Boston. Even though I don’t live there, the Hub is our largest economic engine in the area. Everything that happens in Boston will impact other regional cities and towns. So I want to see Boston do well and Michelle Wu has done an okay job. When she slips, trust me when I say that I’ll be the first on here who will take her to task.

Back to the subject at hand. Wu is not even remotely anti-bike and whomever said this doesn’t know the Mayor. She has been one of the most bike friendly mayors in the nation.

 

[KCasiglio]

E-Cargo Bikes: Strategies for Municipal Delivery Transition – MAPC

E-cargo bikes can contribute to the region’s goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, expanding mobility, and creating safer streets and cities and towns.

www.mapc.org

Today MAPC published "E-Cargo Bikes: Strategies for Municipal Delivery Transition" - essentially a guidebook for municipalities to encourage adoption and facilitate their use in urban logistics.

 

[themissinglink]

Mayor Wu elaborates on why some Boston bike lanes abruptly lost their protective barriers - The Boston Globe

On Tuesday, weeks after their disappearance, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu addressed the intrigue.

www.bostonglobe.com

“This is not about eliminating bike lanes. This is not about saying we don’t need bike lanes‚” Wu said during an appearance on GBH’s Boston Public Radio. “We also need to recognize that ... our streets are only so big, and we have to have safe ways for people to get around.”
[...]
“I truly believe that there’s a way to balance the needs of delivery trucks who have to serve our small businesses, of pedestrians, of drivers, and of cyclists,” Wu said on GBH Tuesday.
Calling flexposts her “personal pet peeve,” Wu said while the barriers are important for providing separation and are “the fastest, cheapest way to create a bike lane that feels like you’re not going to put your life at risk,” they were not meant to be a permanent solution.

 

[FK4]

Mayor Wu elaborates on why some Boston bike lanes abruptly lost their protective barriers - The Boston Globe

On Tuesday, weeks after their disappearance, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu addressed the intrigue.

www.bostonglobe.com

This is a totally bullshit response from her. Like some of her worst bullshit yet—honestly, it really is. It’s politician fluff language rather than just admittting she’s back tracking. And that’s fucked up. At least own it. Making those who like these bike lanes sacrificial lambs and pretending that’s not what this is about is BS.

 

[BeansTheCat]

https://www.wgbh.org/news/politics/...s-boston-has-moved-too-fast-on-street-changes

However, Wu added that she believes that “flex posts” — an inexpensive and quick way to separate bike and automotive traffic without new construction — are inappropriate as a long-term option for protecting cyclists, calling them a “personal pet peeve.”

“Separation is important, and they are definitely the fastest, cheapest way to create a bike lane that feels like you’re not going to put your life at risk,” Wu said. “But at some point, when a flex post has been there defining a bike lane for a year now, three years now, what was meant initially as a temporary experiment … at some point we have to decide, is it working or not?

“If it’s working, let’s get rid of the flex posts,” Wu continued. “Let’s make it into permanent concrete that is a separated curb, or elevate it in pathways that … feel even safer. Because what we see around the city now are places that are supposed to be bike lanes that are separated with posts, and instead you just get gross-looking crumpled plastic all over the place, because cars and trucks are running over the posts, they’re driving through the lane, they’re parking in the lane anyway. And without some combination of more permanent infrastructure, which will cost more and require more resource planning, we just can’t stay stuck in this sort of temporary period.”

Later in her Boston Public Radio appearance, Wu told a caller who expressed disappointment about the removal of bike-lane barriers that the correct configuration of the city’s streets remains a work in progress.

“I think the goal of go as fast as possible, put up as many posts as possible, and then leave them there even if they’re not necessarily working or causing other unintended consequences, and then move on to the next corridor — we just have to be more reflective in how we’re making actual plans for permanent infrastructure,” Wu said.

”We’re going to be working with community members to develop some clear accountability and principles around how decisions will be made in the future about new infrastructure and roadways,” Wu added. “But … it matters when small businesses say that they can’t keep their doors open because all of their parking for employees is gone, and we didn’t really worry about that too much and just wanted to move as quickly as possible. And it matters when residents from the disability community say I don’t have a way to get to the curb now that feels safe from where I’m exiting my vehicle.”

Maybe it's just me, but this seems fairly reasonable taken at face value. I haven't listened to her entire segment on BPR, so it is possible there is missing context. And while I don't want to come across as a Wu apologist, I'm skeptical of the knee-jerk reaction that the moment Josh Kraft started running for mayor, Wu did a complete 180 on bike infrastructure. Here's the main takeaways I've gotten from her comments, all of which seem completely fine.

• Concrete is better than flexposts
• Flexposts get mangled by drivers and they stop working as protection or deterrence
• It is good practice to review the effects caused by changes to the street
  • This is especially true when going from quick-build to permanent infrastructure, as the cost of changing again escalates
• Some people and businesses have a legitimate need for parking, whether for disability access, commercial deliveries, or trips too long to cycle and poorly served by transit
  • These are still community members. While they should not have veto power over street changes, it makes sense to try and address their concerns as best as possible

At the end of the day actions speak louder than words. The removal of posts before a replacement is put in is deeply troubling. However, I'm at least willing to wait and see what actually happens to the lanes before assuming Wu is just scapegoating cyclists for political points.

 

[HenryAlan]

Agree with @BeansTheCat's take. Quick build is meant for piloting, collecting data, etc., that ultimately leads to a more complete design. We saw this happen on Cummins Hwy, which is now getting curb protected bike lanes.

That said, she needs to provide a more detailed statement fairly soon, otherwise we will be left to speculate and make both right and wrong assumptions due to lack of information.

 

[Badusername]

Agree with @BeansTheCat's take. Quick build is meant for piloting, collecting data, etc., that ultimately leads to a more complete design. We saw this happen on Cummins Hwy, which is now getting curb protected bike lanes.

That said, she needs to provide a more detailed statement fairly soon, otherwise we will be left to speculate and make both right and wrong assumptions due to lack of information.

It took years of engagement and planning just to get the quick build designs, and some like Mass Ave included concrete protection which they removed. Unless the city found tens of millions of dollars for permanent streetscape rebuilds that are all beginning in the spring without publicized designs, these roads will be without protection for years to come. This is a massive rollback and likely means we can't expect any further expansion of the protected network either, so obvious connections like Charles St will continue to meander through an endless "community engagement" process while cyclists and pedestrians continue to be injured and killed.

I understand the forum giving the mayor the benefit of doubt when this news first broke, but we have all the answers we need at this point. The mayor is getting primaried from the right, and is tacking right rather than standing up for the safety of her constituents.

 

[KCasiglio]

Unless the city found tens of millions of dollars for permanent streetscape rebuilds that are all beginning in the spring without publicized designs

I don't think that the only possible outcomes here are complete streetscape rebuild or nothing at all. Replacing flexposts with something more durable, say planters, would be in the tens to hundreds of thousands depending on how extensive the replacing is and wouldn't require any design and community outreach process. The poor communication on this could very easily be not wanting to be loud about bike lane improvements right now.

I'm pretty instinctually cynical and I think Occam's razor points to what you're saying, we're not going to see any replacement for the protection until after the election and the poor communication is not wanting to be loud about something that will piss off her base, but it's still an open question.

 

[FK4]

I don't think that the only possible outcomes here are complete streetscape rebuild or nothing at all. Replacing flexposts with something more durable, say

… hey, maybe sharrows for all! Yay!

Edit - In seriousness, though, badusername said it. She’s tacking right and that’s wack as shit. “Community engagement” often means “do nothing”. The problem is that the most crucial gaps in the system are exactly those areas where the roads are tight, which are exactly those areas that “the community“ opposes bike infrastructure the most strongly. The exact places where we need the safety the most are the same spots that are most hotly contested. So we really need a somewhat dictatorial, rather than pluralistic, approach.

My view having watched all of this unfolding over many years is that Boston always takes the lowest hanging fruit and those crucial gaps never get filled in. One byproduct of the tendency to just “do something“ where there seemingly is space to do so is that we wind up probably having more streets with aggressive bike infrastructure than is actually necessary. In an ideal world every street would have bike safety but in the world of reality, particularly Boston with its tight roadways, I don’t see anything wrong with sitting down and really making some rational priorities as to corridors that bikes should be encouraged to use, and maybe not plunk down bike lanes on unnecessary side streets that do more to piss people off and less to protect bike commuters.

Wu’s biggest error was Boylston St. boylston is an incredibly busy street, and the changes over the last few years have been quite dramatic. I also don’t think of it as a street where bus and even bike lanes are all that necessary, because it’s so jammed with traffic I usually don’t (didn’t) feel unsafe.

Even tho under Wu I feel like there’s been more sensibility with respect to actual corridors that get you from the far reaches of outer Boston into the core without being flung into danger zones at random points, I still think recognizing that there are going to be haters and opposition and a better way of doing bikes would have been, from the beginning, to really get aggressive but only with very specific corridors, and then go from there. Overall the approach has been haphazard and I feel like it takes advantage of too many places that just happen to have some extra pavement, and that just ends up pissing people off.

Editing again - one last thing, Arlington is absolutely a road that requires total protection. One of the scariest — and necessary — roads anywhere in downtowj
Boston is Arlington between Boylston St and the Mass Pike. In particular, the Stuart/Arlington intersection is way too wide and very dangerous for bikes. Out of all the things that got removed, this is the one that concerns me the most.

 

[KCasiglio]

I don’t see anything wrong with sitting down and really making some rational priorities as to corridors that bikes should be encouraged to use, and maybe not plunk down bike lanes on unnecessary side streets that do more to piss people off and less to protect bike commuters.

Interestingly, Boston went through this exercise and there is a Bike Network Plan, though the plan is very much due for a renewal. It would be interesting to compare what's been built out against that plan.

Regionally, the last bike network plan was done in 2007.